Loki Laufeyson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hates_thunder) wrote2012-10-30 09:42 pm
hates_thunder) wrote2012-10-30 09:42 pm
App for planar_crossroads
Player Name: Yume
Personal Journal:memorylikeasieve
Other Characters Played: None here
Character Name: Loki
Canon: MCU and a wee bit of the original mythology.
Personality: (*cracks knuckles* Right, I'm going to try to succeed where a string of Norse Mythology scholars have failed--I'm going to try to intelligibly explain Loki Laufeyson in less than 100,000 words. Granted, I have the Marvel continuities to make things a little more--oh, who am I kidding, Marvel simply went and made it WORSE. Still, wish me luck! As always, the bits in square brackets are headcanon/speculation.)
The one and single descriptor that everyone can agree on regarding Loki's personality is 'complex.' Possibly 'mercurial,' if one really wants to get circular about it (Let's describe a trickster god by comparing him to another trickster god! How about we add 'puckish' and 'coyote-like' to the list while we're at it?!). I can't say his moral compass swings wildly because, in all honesty, he hasn't got one. If he were an RPG character it would be physically impossible for his alignment to be anything other than True Neutral. Loki does what he does for three reasons--because it sounded like fun at the time, to ensure his own survival, or to somehow prove himself to his father.
Let's tackle them in order.
Loki has a slightly twisted sense of humour. The phrase has been overused to the point where it almost doesn't mean anything any more, but there is no other way to describe it--it is literally askew from anything even approaching the norm. Leaving aside his obviously overdeveloped sense of schadhenfreude, [the man's brain has gone crosswired and his funnybone has ended up in his pleasure centre. He's like an addict, or the most infuriating case of OCD ever, in that he literally goes antsy and twitchy and strung-out if he doesn't make a fool out of someone or cause some kind of chaos or misfortune somewhere, often to comedic extremes.]
This dovetails somewhat into the second point--survival. To say he thrives on chaos and misfortune is a bit of an understatement and likely also a bit disingenuous. Mischeif in all its forms and connotations is an aspect of his very existence. Apart from that, he has ended up historically doing a lot of things because he's been threatened with death if he did not. [major speculation alert--I am including this aspect from the mythology because the Cinematic Universe has given no other explanation for the presence of Sleipnir.]
The fact that some of these threats have come from Odin himself leads to the third point. Loki has grown up in the shadow of his older brother Thor and has tried in vain for as long as he can remember to prove to the others, and especially to his father, Odin, that he is worthy of respect, title, and inheritance. These plans often go catastrophically awry but it doesn't stop him from trying. Odin is a demanding ruler and is fair in that he demands just as much of his family as he does the rest of his subjects, and Loki feels that he is forever falling behind in meeting these demands, further galled by the fact that such things come so easily to Thor.
As so often happens with Marvel villains (though, to be fair, a similar outcome is seen in the mythology) these factors, coupled with an already unstable mind and a shocking revelation (here being that he is not Odin's son at all but a foundling rescued from Jötunheim and actually Laufey's abandoned son, taken in by Odin for political reasons), send him into madness. His measures to prove himself become more and more desperate and destructive and, at a final confrontation on the bridge between worlds (the Bifrøst), a last rejection from Odin snaps his resolve and he allows himself to be sucked into the void between worlds [The Ginnungagap?].
When he returns he is more unstable, more amoral, broken by the time spent in the void and corrupted psionically by the alien energies of the Tesseract and the Chitauri power sceptre. He appears to, at least a couple times, realise what he is doing and the impact it has, but is in too far over his head to back out at this point. When he is defeated and these alien energies taken from him, [he is effectively detoxed as their effects leach out of his mind.]
All of this contributes to the being he is, now, at this point in canon. He is still mercurial, still crosswired, and still feeling shadowed by his brother. He is much less evil, now, however, what was once malice having now faded back into that keen sense of schadhenfreude. He is clever, almost terrifyingly intelligent, charismatic, and extremely observant. He's regained a lot of his good looks and is acutely aware of this fact, [not above using an attractive smile, a smouldering gaze, a seductive touch, or a bedroom voice to get what he wants. Whether he follows through on any of this rakish behaviour depends entirely on his mood--more often than not he finds it more fun to get a person flustered and then leave than to actually seduce someone.]
However, for all this charisma his psyche is still a bit fractured. He is jumpy, has a tendency to leap to conclusions, and has a very short fuse. This short fuse leads to an emotional explosion that lasts for all of maybe five minutes, after which he attempts a return to normalcy. He is jealous, suspicious of the motives of others, [and is, frankly, completely done with being threatened into acting as someone else's tool and will outright refuse to do anyone a favour unless he'll be suitably rewarded or doing so will amuse him, or they at least ask nicely. He hides behind humour and practical jokes and elabourate schemes that are, to be honest, funny as hell... until they happen to you, unless you have a similar sense of humour.]
All in all he gives the impression of a desperately jolly God of Mischeif. A Norse Pagliachi of sorts, hiding pain behind laughter.
History: They couldn't just use 'MCU' as the designation, no, it has to be 'Earth 199999'
Setting Info: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor film (MCU), Avengers film (MCU)
Canon Point: After the events of the Avengers film. He's done some time in an Asgardian equivalent of detox, and is rid of the bizarre energies from the Tesseract and the Chitauri sceptre that had sort of tipped the delicate balance of his mind to evil.
Abilities/Powers: Loki's powers, with one exception, seem almost psionic or perception-based in nature--he can cast illusions and glamours, effect subconscious (ie low-grade) mind control akin to hypnotism, and mask his presence from others no matter how preternaturally eagle-eyed they happen to be (he can hide from Heimdahl, after all). His other powers appear to involve very small-scale spatial hopping, as he can teleport himself or objects a MAXIMUM of about twelve feet. He is also stronger, more durable, and has faster reflexes than a human but nothing approaching a superhero calibre.
His abilities/skills include preternaturally fast learning, sleight of hand, extensive knowledge of the arcane arts, and familiarity with melée combat.
Intended Guild: Diamonds of Fortune. He fits every criteria for it save for attachment to material wealth--growing up in Asgard has pretty much inured him to the lure of riches [and, in fact, he's a bit carte blanche with his own posessions, often giving things to other people if it'd make things more convenient for him if they had them, not caring one way or the other for recompense.]
Notes/Other Info: Surprisingly Loki has no macguffins this time. Also, he has a tendency to overheat rapidly in any environment warmer than about 68°F, which will make for some very amusing reactions.
Sample Post:
testrun_box post
Guild Recruitment Meme threads one, two, three.
Personal Journal:
memorylikeasieveOther Characters Played: None here
Character Name: Loki
Canon: MCU and a wee bit of the original mythology.
Personality: (*cracks knuckles* Right, I'm going to try to succeed where a string of Norse Mythology scholars have failed--I'm going to try to intelligibly explain Loki Laufeyson in less than 100,000 words. Granted, I have the Marvel continuities to make things a little more--oh, who am I kidding, Marvel simply went and made it WORSE. Still, wish me luck! As always, the bits in square brackets are headcanon/speculation.)
The one and single descriptor that everyone can agree on regarding Loki's personality is 'complex.' Possibly 'mercurial,' if one really wants to get circular about it (Let's describe a trickster god by comparing him to another trickster god! How about we add 'puckish' and 'coyote-like' to the list while we're at it?!). I can't say his moral compass swings wildly because, in all honesty, he hasn't got one. If he were an RPG character it would be physically impossible for his alignment to be anything other than True Neutral. Loki does what he does for three reasons--because it sounded like fun at the time, to ensure his own survival, or to somehow prove himself to his father.
Let's tackle them in order.
Loki has a slightly twisted sense of humour. The phrase has been overused to the point where it almost doesn't mean anything any more, but there is no other way to describe it--it is literally askew from anything even approaching the norm. Leaving aside his obviously overdeveloped sense of schadhenfreude, [the man's brain has gone crosswired and his funnybone has ended up in his pleasure centre. He's like an addict, or the most infuriating case of OCD ever, in that he literally goes antsy and twitchy and strung-out if he doesn't make a fool out of someone or cause some kind of chaos or misfortune somewhere, often to comedic extremes.]
This dovetails somewhat into the second point--survival. To say he thrives on chaos and misfortune is a bit of an understatement and likely also a bit disingenuous. Mischeif in all its forms and connotations is an aspect of his very existence. Apart from that, he has ended up historically doing a lot of things because he's been threatened with death if he did not. [major speculation alert--I am including this aspect from the mythology because the Cinematic Universe has given no other explanation for the presence of Sleipnir.]
The fact that some of these threats have come from Odin himself leads to the third point. Loki has grown up in the shadow of his older brother Thor and has tried in vain for as long as he can remember to prove to the others, and especially to his father, Odin, that he is worthy of respect, title, and inheritance. These plans often go catastrophically awry but it doesn't stop him from trying. Odin is a demanding ruler and is fair in that he demands just as much of his family as he does the rest of his subjects, and Loki feels that he is forever falling behind in meeting these demands, further galled by the fact that such things come so easily to Thor.
As so often happens with Marvel villains (though, to be fair, a similar outcome is seen in the mythology) these factors, coupled with an already unstable mind and a shocking revelation (here being that he is not Odin's son at all but a foundling rescued from Jötunheim and actually Laufey's abandoned son, taken in by Odin for political reasons), send him into madness. His measures to prove himself become more and more desperate and destructive and, at a final confrontation on the bridge between worlds (the Bifrøst), a last rejection from Odin snaps his resolve and he allows himself to be sucked into the void between worlds [The Ginnungagap?].
When he returns he is more unstable, more amoral, broken by the time spent in the void and corrupted psionically by the alien energies of the Tesseract and the Chitauri power sceptre. He appears to, at least a couple times, realise what he is doing and the impact it has, but is in too far over his head to back out at this point. When he is defeated and these alien energies taken from him, [he is effectively detoxed as their effects leach out of his mind.]
All of this contributes to the being he is, now, at this point in canon. He is still mercurial, still crosswired, and still feeling shadowed by his brother. He is much less evil, now, however, what was once malice having now faded back into that keen sense of schadhenfreude. He is clever, almost terrifyingly intelligent, charismatic, and extremely observant. He's regained a lot of his good looks and is acutely aware of this fact, [not above using an attractive smile, a smouldering gaze, a seductive touch, or a bedroom voice to get what he wants. Whether he follows through on any of this rakish behaviour depends entirely on his mood--more often than not he finds it more fun to get a person flustered and then leave than to actually seduce someone.]
However, for all this charisma his psyche is still a bit fractured. He is jumpy, has a tendency to leap to conclusions, and has a very short fuse. This short fuse leads to an emotional explosion that lasts for all of maybe five minutes, after which he attempts a return to normalcy. He is jealous, suspicious of the motives of others, [and is, frankly, completely done with being threatened into acting as someone else's tool and will outright refuse to do anyone a favour unless he'll be suitably rewarded or doing so will amuse him, or they at least ask nicely. He hides behind humour and practical jokes and elabourate schemes that are, to be honest, funny as hell... until they happen to you, unless you have a similar sense of humour.]
All in all he gives the impression of a desperately jolly God of Mischeif. A Norse Pagliachi of sorts, hiding pain behind laughter.
History: They couldn't just use 'MCU' as the designation, no, it has to be 'Earth 199999'
Setting Info: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor film (MCU), Avengers film (MCU)
Canon Point: After the events of the Avengers film. He's done some time in an Asgardian equivalent of detox, and is rid of the bizarre energies from the Tesseract and the Chitauri sceptre that had sort of tipped the delicate balance of his mind to evil.
Abilities/Powers: Loki's powers, with one exception, seem almost psionic or perception-based in nature--he can cast illusions and glamours, effect subconscious (ie low-grade) mind control akin to hypnotism, and mask his presence from others no matter how preternaturally eagle-eyed they happen to be (he can hide from Heimdahl, after all). His other powers appear to involve very small-scale spatial hopping, as he can teleport himself or objects a MAXIMUM of about twelve feet. He is also stronger, more durable, and has faster reflexes than a human but nothing approaching a superhero calibre.
His abilities/skills include preternaturally fast learning, sleight of hand, extensive knowledge of the arcane arts, and familiarity with melée combat.
Intended Guild: Diamonds of Fortune. He fits every criteria for it save for attachment to material wealth--growing up in Asgard has pretty much inured him to the lure of riches [and, in fact, he's a bit carte blanche with his own posessions, often giving things to other people if it'd make things more convenient for him if they had them, not caring one way or the other for recompense.]
Notes/Other Info: Surprisingly Loki has no macguffins this time. Also, he has a tendency to overheat rapidly in any environment warmer than about 68°F, which will make for some very amusing reactions.
Sample Post:
testrun_box post
Guild Recruitment Meme threads one, two, three.